The foreign minister is making a coherent blend of traditional alliances and the crucial roles of our Southeast Asian neighbours, writes historian James Curran.
As the unforgiving minute ticked over into the new year, there appeared reams of media commentary decreeing 2022 to be a bad one for authoritarians Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
But that is not stopping its foreign minister outlining the challenges for Canberra in this great web of international rivalry. Wong stated clearly in the speech that the Americans need to do more to reduce the risk of conflict with China and make economic engagement in the region a ‘core alliance priority’. Her remarks reflected the reality that America’s Asian economic footprint remains patchy.Wong then set out the history of the various guardrails and agreements between the US and the Soviet Union that emerged from the Cuban missile crisis.
Unpacking that one line is crucial to understanding the unfolding story of this government’s foreign policy.The irony is unmissable. For much of last century, Australian politicians and policymakers viewed Asia as the alien “other”. Culture became fused with colour, and our location on the edge of Asia lent these anxieties an intense racial form. A White Australia policy and fighting Asians in Asia during the Cold War were its ultimate expressions.
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